Weird phobia of satellites and flying objects

August 18, 2006 11:40 PM

Am I the only one with a phobia of satellites, and low-flying objects that are not planes (possibly spacecraft, not UFOs)?

I have no idea why, but for my entire life, I've been afraid of low-flying objects that are not airplanes. When I was a young child, I dreamed of slowly-floating globes/satellites outside my house that I was very afraid of. I'm not afraid of low-flying planes and I'm not afraid to fly. As I got older, I routinely had/have dreams about space shuttles or satellites flying visibly in the sky. In these dreams, I'm usually looking out a window (though not always) and I see a spaceship or missile or some type of craft that often hovers in midair (very high up), then turns and takes off towards space and disappears, and in the dream I try not to look at them because they upset me so much.

Whenever I dream that I can see a satellite (it's often far away in the sky, but I can still see the shape and some details), I feel afraid. I also dream about, well, sort of floating malls or floating buildings and am deathly afraid of them. Most recently, a few nights ago I heard on the news that the International Space Station would be visible in the sky. Now, I know it would mostly look like a bright star from here, but in the dream I subsequently had, it was close enough to visibly see all the details, and yes, I was afraid. I'm not consciously afraid of the ISS.

I have never heard of anyone else with the fear of - what, floating objects? - and the only term I could find was Keraunothnetophobia, which is the fear of the fall of man-made satellites - and I don't think I'm afraid of them falling. I've never been into (nor afraid of) the whole UFO thing. I am not afraid of space and in fact enjoy astronomy. When I'm awake, these dreams leave an uncomfortable feeling, but I also feel quite silly because I don't know why I'm afraid of these things.

Does anyone have this weird phobia as well, or know any more about it? I'm almost afraid to take a telescope and attempt to look at the space station... should I try it? Do you think that would make it better?

posted by IndigoRain to grab bag (9 comments total)

Fear of looming objects is instinctual in a lot of animals, including primates, because that's what colliding with an object, or what predators that attack from above, look like:

Looming objects might indicate an impending collision or an approaching object. Behavioral
evidence supports the potential urgency of looming stimuli; for example, infants show a fear response (see,
e.g., Náñez, 1988) and insects show a hiding response (see, e.g., Hassenstein & Hustert, 1999)

Looming objects always provoke a reaction, even if they are predictable; we don't learn to ignore them as we learn to ignore other kinds of event.3 This is another sign that they fall in a class for which there is dedicated neural machinery and the reason why is pretty obvious as well. A looming object is always potentially dangerous. Some things you just shouldn't get used to.

Many researchers agree that emotion is a rapid action perception/meaning system that integrates information about ourselves and our environments in response to personally relevant situations or stimuli. There are classic stimuli (big looming object) that pull for certain emotions (fear) which trigger action tendencies that increase our survival (running/hiding/freezing).

Sounds like you have a particularly strong version of that normal fear, and that your mind has "rationalized" that fear by assigning that feeling to real-world object that more or less "could" be seen as fitting the bill for the fear stimulus.
posted by orthogonality at 12:01 AM on August 19, 2006 [2 favorites]

I'll second orthogonality's observation. General aviation pilots landing at rural airports, especially at night, commonly make a low level pass down the length of the runway, usually at high power settings and slow speed, to check the runway and scare off animals and birds. This is a lot more effective if you fly as slowly as possible, and pilots often see coyotes and deer "cringe" at their aircraft and shadow, before bolting wildly from the runway surface. Turbo jets flying a pass at 200 mph apparently don't intimidate birds or animals nearly as much as small Cessna 150 two seaters, flying at 55 mph, presumably because the higher speed aircraft don't appear to be as "predator like" as the smaller, slower planes, although the jets can make a lot more noise. So, conventional wisdom is that business jets have a lot more wildlife collision incidents than smaller turboprop and piston engined general aviation aircraft.
posted by paulsc at 3:55 AM on August 19, 2006

Indigo, how old are you? Is it possible you were traumatized as a child by something like the coverage of the Challenger disaster?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:40 AM on August 19, 2006

I was going to ask how old you were as well, but not from a Challenger standpoint - I was thinking older, like too much childhood coverage about spy satellites or something.

For what it's worth, I had a fear of helicopters until high school because I once believed something some jerky little kid told me (when I was a more gullible little kid myself.) Used to go inside whenever I heard one. I still look at them, but I eventually convinced myself that the kid had been full of shit.

Part of this was figuring out the details. Maybe if you figure out what it is that freaks you out about floating objects - I know I say that casually and it might be difficult. My other suggestion is that if you're at all creative, try writing about it. Not in a clinical way, just make the floating things there. Hell, go into so much detail you get bored with them. That's how I got over a bad association with a movie.
posted by cobaltnine at 6:17 AM on August 19, 2006

A couple of thoughts that might help:

1) I often feel uncomfortable after dreams in which I see detail in faraway or minute objects. Objects that I wouldn't be able to clearly discern in my waking life. I've never dreamt about a satellite specifically, but reading your description of seeing the shape and detail in such a faraway object evoked some of that uneasiness for me.

I have NO idea what causes this. But if it's any way common, maybe what you've experienced is a variation on the same thing?

2) I have a recurring dream about witnessing a plane crash. I'm never in the plane, only an observer from the outside. Awake, I feel the same way you described when reflecting on the dreams: Uncomfortable. Maybe even to the point where I have a phobia about witnessing (though not being in) a plane crash.

I realized a pattern, however, after having these dreams for over a decade. The dreams only pop up when there's a conflict or situation in my life over which I feel I've lost control. The plane in my dreams, I realized, is my subconscious symbol for myself! The plane has lost control, just like I have, and I'm an outside observer to the whole thing. Which is essentially what's happening in my life: I sit idly by, watching while some situation spirals out of control.

It's actually become good therapy for me, after having one of these dreams, to reflect on the issues in my life, and identify the one about which I feel least in control. When I take action on that issue, the dreams invariably stop. (Heh, until the next issue comes along.)

Is it possible that the satellites and shuttles and malls in your dreams symbolize a subconscious fear? They're all "modern" things. Maybe you have some issues with change or progress? That the objects are always above you might suggest you feel oppressed or overpowered. And that you're often observing through a window could suggest that you've shut yourself in for safety.


About viewing the ISS through a telescope: Personally, I would. I'm not sure if it'll make things better (especially if the dreams really are symbolic of some other issue in your life.) But it won't make them worse, and it definitely won't hurt you in any way. I'd also get someone to sit with you, a friend you trust intimately, to create a safe environment while you do it.
posted by ParsonWreck at 11:28 AM on August 19, 2006

I had asthma as a child and would have attacks periodically at night while sleeping, thus becoming lightheaded and subsequently getting a lot of "flying" dreams. Check out whether you have any susceptibility to breathing issues while asleep (like apnea, for example). I've had a number of panic attacks involving irrational fears of seeing very distant objects in incredible details (a level of detail that should not be possible from such a distance, and the concept of so much minute detail from such a tremendous distance was the scary part, although it was the panic attack that was the source of the fear, not the actual images. Perhaps you have a combination of these two, and are only recalling the images rather than the actual physiological circumstances of the very moments?
posted by vanoakenfold at 3:28 PM on August 19, 2006

I am 26. I don't remember hearing about the Challenger crash when it happened, but I do remember hearing a lot about Christa McAuliffe.

It was odd, today I was at the hair salon and I heard Peter Schilling's song Major Tom, and I remembered I used to see that music video a lot as a child... maybe I watched it one too many times.
posted by IndigoRain at 8:16 PM on August 19, 2006

I wonder if this might sound familiar: John McPhee in The Curve of Binding Energy: "...there were certain books that contained pages that could unfailingly cause in him a sensation of terror. They were atlases and geographies, mainly, and he knew just where they were--which book, which shelf. He would muse, and his eyes would wander to one of them, and he would go and get it. He woud open to a picture of the full moon or of a planet--any disclike thing seen in full view--and his flesh would contract with fear. He could never look through a telescope without steeling himself against the thought of seeing a big white disc. He began to have recurrent dreams that would apparently last his lifetime, for he still has them, of worlds, planets, discs filling half his field of vision, filling all his nerves with terror."
posted by Mapes at 8:30 AM on August 20, 2006

Hi Mapes, that doesn't really sound scary to me. I've looked through a powerful university telescope and seen Saturn. Seeing pictures of satellites doesn't give me the heebie-jeebies... it's only when I dream of them, when they should be so tiny that they're star-like, and yet I can still see details. In other words, in the dreams, they are far closer than they should be.
posted by IndigoRain at 3:24 PM on August 20, 2006